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Bible Encyclopedias
Psalmody, Ancient.
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or By this term we mean the singing of sacred songs as an act of worship; and in this article we shall speak only of its use in public worship, and we shall use the term in its most inclusive sense. In doing so, we substantially adopt the art. in Kitto's Cyclopaedia.
The simple idea of psalmody is the expression of religious feeling in lyrical poetry and in musical cadence. Rhythmical song seems to be the instinctive utterance of all strong emotion. Savage nations express themselves in language of natural poetry, uttered in the cadence of a rude chant or musical recitative. In worship, the use of poetry and music is coeval with society (Plato, De Legib. lib. iii, c. 15; Lowth, Heb. Poetry, lect. 1). Homer wrote hymns to the gods; Orpheus was a priest-musician, the tamer and sanctifier bv his lyre of whatever was rude and godless. The muses were chiefly employed in the service of the gods (Phurnutus, De Natura Deorum, p. 157, ed. Gale), from which some of them — e.g. Melpomene, Terpsichore, Polymnia — derived their names. Clemens Alexandrinus tells us that a chief part of the worship of the Egyptians consisted in singing hymns to their gods: "First, a singer goes before, bringing forth some one thing of the symbols of music; and they say that he ought to take two books out of those of Hermes, the one containing the hymns of the gods, the other the method of a royal life...
There are ten things which are suitable to the honor of their gods, and comprise the Egyptian religion, viz. sacrifices, first-fruits, hymns, prayers, shows, feasts, and such-like things" (Stromat, 6:633, ed. Paris). Porphyry confirms this. The Egyptians, he says, devote "the day to the worship of their gods, in which, three or four times — viz. morning and evening, noon and sunsetting — they sing hymns unto them" (De Abstinent. 4:8). Concerning the Indians, he says. "they spend the greatest part of the day and night in prayers and hymns to the gods" (ibid. 12, 18; see also Vita Pythag. p. 200, ed. Cantab.). A remarkable passage occurs in the writings of Arrianus, the Stoic philosopher. "If" says he, "we are intelligent creatures, what else should we do, both in public and private, than to sing a hymn to the Deity, to speak well of him, and give thanks unto him? Sholuld we not, whether digging or ploughing or eating, sing a hymn to God?" etc. (Arrian, Epictet. i, 16; also iii, 26). Herodotus tells us that Homer got great credit for composing hymns to the gods (De Vita Homeri. c. 9). Rewards were given in the Pythian games to those who sang the best hymns to the gods (Pausanias in Phocicis, lib. x). The apostate Julian recommends that many of the excellent hymns to the gods be committed to memory, most of which, he says, were composed by the gods, some few by men inspired bv a divine spirit (Opera, p. 551, ed. Paris). Sacred song, therefore, is no peculiarity of revealed religion. It rests upon deep instincts of human nature, perhaps of all intelligent moral nature; for at the creation "the morning stars sang together for joy," at the nativity angelic song was heard by the shepherds of Bethlehem. and in the final heaven both angels and redeemed men are represented as singing rapturous songs before the throne.
In defining sacred song as the utterance of strong emotion, we do not restrict it to praise, although praise is the most natural and prominent form of it. Deep sorrow and earnest prayer may also find their fitting expression in musical song. Augustine thus defines the more technical and Christian conception of a hymn: "Hymnus est cantus cum laude Dei; si cantus est et non laudas Deum, non dicis Iymnulm; si laudas aliquid quod non pertinet ad laudem Dei, non dicis hymnum" (Psalms 148). Church song is restricted to lyrical poetry, for this alone can express the consentaneous emotion of a congregation. It excludes, therefore, didactic poetry, which expounds doctrines or analyzes feelings or inculcates duties; and it excludes dramatic poetry, which expresses passion by action. It is also more than mere lyrical poetry: it is lyrical poetry which assumes the pure truth of God, andn gives expression to the deep religious feeling which it excites. A hymn is an outburst of religious life.
In its form, worship-song may be either rhythmical or metrical; the former was its primitive and more uncultured form; the latter is its subsequent and more artistic form. The former is exemplified in the Hebrew psalms and the Greek Christian hymns; the latter in the Latin hymns of Ambrose and Gregory, and in the subsequent hymnology of the Western Chumrch. Each of course requires a corresponding form of music — the rhythmical hymn, a musical and ad libitum recitative, closing with a cadence, technically known as a "chant;" the metrical hymn, a metrical tune. The anthem differs from both, in that it consists of certain rhythmical or metrical wmords set to specific music, which seeks to bring out their special emphasis, and is incapable of beingr used to any other. The anthem is, characteristically, tlhe performance of choirs, and not the worship of the congregation. In public worship, sacred song, may be either the singing of a choir to which the congregation are auditors, or the united act of the entire boly of worshippers, the choir and organ simply leading and accompanying it. Without denying to the former the character of worship, it is obvious that it is worship only in a very restricted and imperfect sense. It is worship ot a mulch higher and more catholic character for the lwhole congregation to unite in the utterance of religious feeling. Hence, as a rule, no composition should be allowxed in congregational worship too artistic or too intricate for congregational use. On the other hand, every kind of composition is legitimate that a congregation can use, and through which it can express the emotions of its spiritual life. Neither rhythmical psalm nor metrical hymn has any natural or legislative prerogative or sacredness in the Church of God.
The manner of singing, again, whether unisonal, as in the early Church, or in part harmony, as in the modern Church; whether antiphonal, between choir and congregation, or between one part of the congregation and another, as in many of the Jewish psalms, or universal and continuous by the whole congregation, is immaterial, so long as the best expression of religious feeling is secured.
In the Bible, the use and importance of sacred song are fully recognised, and large provision for it is made. The earliest fragment of song in the Bible is not sacred. Lamech expresses himself in a snatch of song which has all the characteristics of later Temple poetry.
The Jews seem almost to have restricted their use of poetry and music to divine worship, probably because their theocracy so identified their national and their religious life as that the expression of the one was the expression of the other. Music and song were joined in holy marriage, and presented themselves hand in hand to worship before the Lord.
The first record of Hebrew worship-song is the great outburst of the newly liberated life of the people on the borders of the Red Sea, where Miriam provided for the expression of their praise in her magnificent song. This is the earliest specimen of choral song that the world possesses. It was probably sung antiphonally — Miriam and the women on the one side, answered by Moses and the men on the other.
We have minute accounts of the musical service of the Tabernacle and of the Temple, as arranged by David and Solomon; and especially of the great musical celebration at the dedication of the latter, when we are told that Jehovah especially responded to the invocation of worshipping song (2 Chronicles 5:12-14). Beyond all question the Temple service was the most magnificent choral worship that the world has seen,, On great occasions the choir consisted of four thousand singers and players (1 Chronicles 23:5; 1 Chronicles 25); the statements of Josephus (Ant. 8:3) are evidently greatly exaggerated. Its psalmody would consist, first, of such compositions as had been written by Moses and others, with those of David, Asaph, etc. Some of David's early psalms seem to have been adapted for Temple use (comp. Psalms 18 with 2 Samuel 22). Others were doubtless composed specially for it. Hence most of David's psalms, in the collection of Hebrew poetry so designated, are inscribed "To the chief musician." From time to time fresh contributions of sacred song would be made. As we possess it, the book of Psalms was certainly not the Temple psalter. It is a collection, or ratlher a combination of fotur or five separate collections, of Helbrew poetry, of long and gradual accumulation, containinig the Temple psalms, but containing also many pieces nleither meant nor fitting to be sung. Hence the ritual and religious absurdity of singing indiscriminately through the whole. Hippolytus, writing in the 3d century, assigns the various authorship of the collection as a reason why no author's name is affixed to it (Hippolytus On the Psalms, quoted by Bunsen, Christianity and Mankind, i, 458; see also ibid. ii, 176; Josephus, Ant. 7:12, 3).
From the structure of some of the psalms, as well as from some expressions contained in them, it is certain that they were sung antiphonally, probably by two choirs responding to each other. Some of the psalms, the 24th, for instance, were evidently alternated between the priest and the people. Among the various suppositions concerning the meaning of the word "‘ Selah," one is that it is the sign of a great chorus-shout of the people. See also 1 Samuel 18:6; Nehemiah 9; Ezra 3:10; Isaiah 6:1-3; bishop Lowth On Hebreow Poetry, lect. xix; Wheatley On the Common Prayer, ch. iii, § 9.
From 1 Chronicles 25:7 it appears that Church music was formally taught in the Jewish schools.
That Jewish song was celebrated tlroughout the East is implied in the ironical request of the Balblonians that their poor captives would "sing them one of the songs of Zion."
It is to be observed that the singing of the Temple was no part of the Levitical ritual; it was a fitting worship, independent of the specific economy with whic it was connected. It has, therefore, a certain permanent authority as a scriptural precedent of worship-song.
Concerning the music used in the Jewish Temple we have no certain traditions. The very meaning of the musical accents in the book of Psalms is unknown. Carl Engel (Music of the most Ancient Nations. ch. vi) supposes that the musical system of the Hebrews, as indeed of all the East, was derived from the Assyrians, concerning whose musical knowledge, hitherto unsuspected, much interesting inlormation has been derived from the sculptures discovered by Mr. Layard and Mr. Botta. It is probable that David, who was musician as well as poet, composed music for the use of his psalms in public worship. From the structure of Hebrew poetry this would necessarily be a musical recitative, or "chant;" and as adapted for the use of worshipping thousands, it would probably be very simple in character. Whether the Jews had any form of written music or not, or whether the music of their Temple psalms was learned bv the ear, and traditionally handed down from generation to generation, is unknown. Certainly no trace of written music has come down to us. It is to be presumed that the music originally set to David's psalms would be perpetuated from age to age; and that therefore the music to which our Lord and his disciples sang the lesser Hallel on the "night on which he was betrayed," and the music to which Paul and Silas sang their prison songs, would be the old traditional Temple music. The tradition is that the Peregrine Tone was the music to which the lesser Hallel was sung. All this, however, is pure conjecture. There is not a particle of historical proof to throw light upon it. Nor is this to be wondered at, considering the dispersions and the unparalleled sufferings of the Jews, and when it is remembered that we are equally ignorant of the music of the Greeks and the Romans.
At the dispersion, Temple-song ceased. Burney says, some Hebrew high- priest being his informant, "that all instrumental, and even vocal performances have been banished from the synagogue ever since the destruction of Jerusalem; that the little singing now in use there is an innovation and a modern license; for the Jews, from a passage in one of the prophets, think it unlawful, or at least unfit, to sing or rejoice before the coming of the Messiah, till when they are bound to mourn and repent in silence" (Hist. of Music, 1, 251). It is probable, however, that although at the dispersion the Temple music was forever silenced, yet that synagogue worship would be speedily restored, and that. as far as possible, its services would be based upon the old Temple prayers and psalms, and that the traditional melodies of the latter would be sung to them.
The first recorded uninspired psalmody of the synagogue is not earlier than the 10th century, when Saadiah Gaon first introduced rhyme into Hebrew poetry. On this subject, see Prayers of the Spanish and Portuguese Israelites, with English Translation, by the Rev. D. A. de Sola; Steinschneider, Jewish Lit. (Lond. 1857); Charisi, Jewish Lit,.from the 8th to the 18th Century, ch. 18.
No existing Jewish melodies can be proved to be of any antiquity, compared with some Christian melodies. Purely traditional, their origin is unknown. The utmost that can be said is that for some four or five centuries they have been handed down memoriter. As we possess them they are unmistakably modern in their forms; but then it is possible that beneath these modern forms there may be a very ancient substance. The Rev. D. A. de Sola (Ancient Melodies of the Liturgy of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews) says that a tradition exists that the "Birchat Cohanim" is identical with the melody used in the Temple for the blessing of the priests (Numbers 6:22-26), and that it is supported by great probability, almost amounting to direct proof. The "Song of Moses" is also supposed to be the melody sung by Miriam. But this is pure conjecture. See also Maimonides, ch. 14:§ 14; Lightfoot, Temple Service; Bingham, Antiquities, vol. 14; Carl Engel, Music of the most Ancient Nations, ch. 6.
In the Sept. the word ὕμνος and its cognates are used as representing several Hebrew words; but in almost every case the reference is to songs of praise or thanksgiving to God. In the New Test. this is the invariable usage of the terms.
In the Christian Scriptures very little is said concerning sacred song. Matthew and Mark very touchinigly record the conformity of our Lord, not to any divine command, but to a traditional custom, when he and his disciples, after the institution of the Supper, "sang a hymn" (ὑμνήσαντες ) before they went out to the Mount of Olives (Matthew 26:30; Mark 14:26). There is every reason to believe that what was sung on this occasion was the latter part of the Hallel, the usual Passover psalms of thanksgiving (Psalms 16-19). (See HALLEL).
When Paul and Silas were imprisoned at Philippi, "at midnight they prayed and sang praises unto God" (ὕμνουν τὸν θεόν , Acts 16:25). Whether what they sang were some of the ancient psalms or spontaneous utterances of adoration and worship we have no means of determining. (See HYMN).
In his epistles to the Ephesians (Ephesians 5:19) and to the Colossians (Colossians 3:16), the apostle Paul recognises and enjoins the use of sacred song. So does the apostle James (James 5:13). Michaelis and others suppose that such passages as Acts 4:24-30 are fragments of apostolic hymns. The Apocalypse contains some of the most magnificent bursts of worship-song. In the passages just cited of Ephesians and Colossians the apostle enjoins the use of hymns in the social worship of Christians, classing them with psalms and spiritual songs (ψαλμοῖς καὶ ὕμνοις καὶ ᾠδαῖς πνευματικαῖς ). In what relation these stood to each other is a question which has occasioned considerable differences of opinion. According to some, the distinction between them was one of subject; according to others, it was merely one of form, having respect to the manner in which they were sung; while others contend that the source whence they were derived, and the general character of the composition, determined the difference between them. Under these leading opinions, endless differences of minor opinion have been advocated. Of those who adopt the first opinion is St. Jerome, who thinks that the hymn was devoted to the celebration of the divine majesty and goodness, that the psalm was occupied with themes of an ethical nature, and that the spiritual ode was occupied with things above, and the subtle discussion of the concert of the world, and the order and concord of creation (Comment. in Ephesians 5:19). Others, again, who hold the same general view state the difference thus: The psalm belongs to ethics; the hymn, as setting forth the praises of God for redemption, to theology; and the ode, as celebrating the works of God in creation and providence, to natural science (Thomasius, In Proefaitionibus, p. 525).
All this, however, is purely arbitrary. The second opinion was held by Augustine, Basil, Hilary, and others of the Christian fathers, and has been adopted by several in more recent times. By some who take this view, the distinction is supposed to lie in this, that the ψαλμοί were compositions which were chanted to the accompaniment of an instrument, the ψαλτήριον , the ὕμνοι songs of adoration uttered by the voice alone, and the ᾠδαί, short chants uttered also only by the voice (Augustine, Enarrat. in Psalms 3; Basil. Mag. In Psalms 29; Greg. Nyss. Tr. 2 in Psalmos, ch. iii, etc.); while others think that the distinction is to be determined by reference to the Hebrew terminology שׁירים, משׁמורים, תהלים, which is in fact determining nothing, as the distinction between these is itself entirely uncertain. The third opinion is that of Beza (Nov. Test. ad loc.) and Grotius (Comment. ad Matthew 26:30, et h. 1.); they think that by psalms are designated the sacred songs bearing that name collectively in the Old-Test. canon; by hymns such extemporary songs of praise as we have in the utterances of Deborah, Hannah, Zachariah, and Mary, and such as the apostle and his companion sang in the prison at Philippi; and by odes premeditated compositions of a more elaborate nature and stricter form than hymns. To this in the general, most subsequent inquirers have given their consent; only some think that the term "psalms" should not be restricted to the compositions bearing that name in the Old Test., but should be extended to all of a similar character which might be composed for the use of the Church in later times; and that by "spiritual odes" are to be understood specifically all sacred songs, of whatever kind, composed by special inspiration of the Holy Ghost (θεοπνευστοί ). The former of these modifications is rendered almost imperative by 1 Corinthians 14:26; and the latter by the general sense of the adjective πνευματικός in the New Test. Not a few, despairing of satisfactorily discriminating these three kinds of sacred song, have contended that the apostle merely accumulates terms for the sake of force, and that no distinction between them is to be sought (Clem. Alex. Poedag. 2, 4, p. 565; Clericus, In Not. apud Hammondii Annott. ad loc., etc.); but this otiose method of disposing of the difficulty has been repudiated by most.
As to the form in which these early hymns of the Church were composed, we have no means of even approaching a certain conclusion. Among the Jewish Christians the chanting of the psalms was familiar, and it would be easy for them to compose hymns that could be sung to their accustomed tunes; but with the Gentile converts it would be somewhat different. Among the Greeks and Romans poetry had fixed metrical forms, to which the tunes of the Hebrews could not be adapted. There is no reason, however, to believe that the early Gentile Christians followed these metrical forms in their sacred poetry. The earliest specimens of Christian song extant — the hymn to Christ, preserved by Clemens of Alexaundria; the evening hymn, referred to by Basil as in his time very ancient, handed down from the fathers (De Spir. Sanc. c. 29); and the morning hymn, which has been incorporated with the liturgy of the Church of England — have no traces of a metrical character, but are, like the Biblical hymns, adapted only for being chanted in recitative with a few and simple cadences. ("Primitiva ecclesia ita psallebat ut modico flexu vocis faceret psallentem resonare, ita ut pronuntianti vicinior esset quam canenti," Isidor. Hispal. De Eccl. Offic. i, 5.) Such singing would no doubt be new to the Gentile converts, but it would be speedily learned; and as they probably had very little sacred music of their own, they wouldl hail with delight this accession to their sources of enjoyment, which served at the same time as a vehicle of the devotional feeling that had been kindled within them. It has been suggested that in 1 Corinthians 13 we have an apostolic hymn, and in Ephesians 5:14; 1 Timothy 3:16; James 1:17; Revelation 1:5-6; Revelation 15:3, etc., fragments of hymns sung in the apostolic churches; but this is mere conjecture, though not without some probability.
The early Christians used the Jewish psalms in their worship, which would almost certainly be sung to their traditional Temple music. G. B. Martini says (Storia della Musica, 1, 351): "This is the Hebrew chant of the psalmodies which ever since the time of David and Solomon has been transmitted from one generation to another, and [therefore] goes beyond the first half of the first age of the Church. These have not materially varied, but have been substantially preserved by the Hebrew nation. Is it not, then, sufficient to convince us that the apostles — who were born Hebrews, brought up in the customs of their nation, wont to frequent the Temnple and engage in the prayers and divine praises therein recited — should retain the same method and use the same chants with which the people used to respond to the Levitical choir." Forkel (Geschichte der Musik, 2, 188) says: "This mode of reading the Scriptures with cantilation or chant has been adopted in the Christian Church from the Temple, and is still preserved in the mode of chanting the collects, responses, etc." See also Dr. Saalschutz, Geschichte und Wurdigung der Musik bei den Hebraern, § 61.
Thus, while the destruction of the Temple and the dispersion of the Jews suspended Jewish worship, the singing of the psalms and the traditions of their melolies would be preserved in the Christian Church. If, therefore, we possess any vestiges of Jewish music at all, they are to be found in the Ambrosian or Gregorian tones. The Rev. J. W. Blakesley (Four Months in Algeria, p. 36) visited a synagogue in Algiers, and was surprised to find that "the air to which the psalms were chanted coincided almost exactly with one of the Gregorian tones." Hardly can we suppose that the early Christians either originated a new music or adopted heathen music. We have no record of the introduction into the Christian Church of uninspired hymnody. It would be only very gradually that Greek hymns, with corresponding music, would come into use. At first, probably, Christian hymns would be little more than centos of the Hebrew psalms, or evangelical imitations of them, or compositions after their model — the angels' song at the nativity, and the songs of Zacharias and Simeon leading the way. The earliest Christian hymns seem to have been simple glorifications of Christ.
Eusebius intimates that private individuals wrote hymns to Christ as God, which were generally sung (H.E. v, 38; 7:24; 2, 17). In his letter to Trajan, Pliny says, "The Christians are accustomed to sing alternately between themselves, and to praise Christ as a god" (Pliny, Epist. lib. 10:ep. 39), alluding probably to the Gloria in Excelsis, the morning hymn of the early Church.
The earliest extant fragment of Greek hymnody is found in the Paedagoga of Clemens Alexandrinus (Opp. p. 312, 313, Potter's ed.). Bunsen says, however, that this was never used in the public worship of the Church (Christianity and Mankind, 2, 156).
Three early Christian hymns are preserved in the venerable Alexandrian MS. as an appendix to the Old Test. psalms. The first is the morning hymn of the primitive Church, commencing with the introductory verse of the nativity song of the angels, hence called the Angelical Doxology. It is found in the liturgy of the Greek Church, whence, about the year 380, it was transferred by Hilary to the communion service of the Latin Church; thence again to the communion service of the English Church.
The other two are another short morning hymn in which the verse occurs, "Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this day without sin," afterwards incorporated in the Te Deum; and an evening psalm, consisting of a cento of verses of the Old-Test. psalms.
Besides these, there is an evening hymn of the Greek Christians, ῞Υμνος τοῦ λυχνικοῦ , the "Hymn of the Kindling of the Lamp," corresponding to the "Ave Maria" hymns of Italy; concerning which Basil says, it is "so ancient that he knows not who is the author of it" (Bingham, bk. 13 ch. 5, § 5, 6).
The Ter Sanctus, or Seraphic Hymn, also belongs to the first three centuries, and is found in almost all the ancient liturgies. It is little more than the Trisagium of the seraphim in Isaiah 6. See Palmer, Origines Liturgicoe, 2, 126.
These are the only fragments of Greek hymnody that have been preserved to us. Of course they are rhythmical, and would require a rhythmical tune or chant. Much of early Christian song was probably antiphonal (Socrates, H.E. 6:8; Theodoret, H.E. ii, 24; as also Hahn, Ueber den Gesang in der Syrischen Kirche, p. 54).
The hymnody of the Syrian churches was much more copious. They had an ampler music and poets of higher inspiration. Its invention is attributed by Ephraem Syrus to the Gnostic Bardesanes (Hon., ad Haeret. 53, quoted by Dr. Burgess in his Introd. to the Select Metrical Hymns and Homilies of Ephraem Syrus, p. 30). Metres were called after his name. Next to him as an author of Syrian hymnody stands his son Harmonius, who is said to have invented new metres. Ephraem Syrus flourished in the 4th century. For an account of his contributions, see Burgess, Metrical Hymns, and Introduction. The Benedictine preface to the works of Ephraem Syrus, vol. 5, says: "While the Greeks reduced their sacred hymnology to about eight tunes, and to this day confine themselves to these limits, the Syrians expatiate on 275, which their ecclesiastical books exhibit here and there, inscribing the proper tunes at the beginning of individual hymns." The Syrians are said to have possessed a hymnology of twelve or fourteen thousand hymns.
Great use was made of hymnody by the early heretics; by the Gnostic Bardesanes, who endeavored to supersede the Hebrew Psalter by one of his own, containing also 150 psalms (Theodoret, Haeret. Fab. 209); by Paul of Samosata, who largely beguiled the faithful by his captivating hymns and music (Eusebius, H. E. 7. 30); by the Donatists in Africa, who adapted their hymns to common airs of a wild and passionate character, thereby inflaming the enthusiasm of the people as with a trumpet (Augustine, Confess.); and by Arius, who made the streets of Constantinople resound with ballads written to well-known and seductive melodies, sung in torchlight processions.
Patristic notices of early Christian hymnology are very numerous; our limits forbid more than mere reference to a few, in addition to those already given. Justin Martyr, Apol. 2; Tertullian, Apol. contra Gent. c. 39; De Anima, c. 3; De Jejunio; Cyprian, Epist. ad Donat.; Origen, Contra Cels. lib. 8:c. 67; Eusebius, i.e. lib. ii, c. 17; lib. v, c. 28; lib. 7 c. 24; lib. 8 c. 9; Apost. Const. lib. 20:c. 57; Athanasius, Ep. 7, ad Licet.; Basil In Psalmos; Gregory of Nyssa, Psalms 2; Jerome, Comm. Eph. lib. 3, c. 5; Epist. 17, ad Marcell. Epist. ad Uxorem,, lib. ii, c. 8; Ambrose, Hexam. lib. iii, c. 5; Augustine, Confess. lib. 9 sec. 14, 15, 31; lib. 10 sec. 49, 50; Chrysostom, On the 41st Psalm; Hilary, quoted by Bingham, bk. 13 ch. 5, § 7. See also Neander, Kurtz, and other Church histories; Milman, Hist. of Christianity, vol. iii, bk. ii, ch. iii, iv. See also Deyling, Hymni a Christianis decantandi, Obss. Sac. iii, 430; Walch, De Hymnis Eccl. Apostol. (1737); Ililliger, De Psal. Hymns. atque Odar. Sac. Discrimine (Viteb. 1720); Gerbert, De Cantu et Musica a Primo Eccl. Statu usque ad Praesens Tenupus (Bamb. et Frib. 1774, 2 vols. 4to); Bingham, Antiquities, bk. 14:ch. ii; Works, 4:447 sq.; Rheinwald, Christl. Archaologie, p. 262. For collections and specimens of ancient hymns, see Poetce Graeci Christiani, una cum Homericis Centonibus ex Sanctor. Patr. Opp. collecti in usum Gymnas. Soc. Jesu (Paris, 1609); Maggi, Sacri Himni che si leqgono in tutto anno nella Santa Chiesa (Venet. 1567); Hymni Ecclesime e Breviario Parisiensi (Oxon. 1838); [Faber] Hymns translated frmom the Parisian Breviary (Lond. 1839); Daniel, Thesaurus Hymnologicus (Hal. et Lips. 1841-55, 3 vols.); Burgess. Select Metrical hymns and Homilies of Ephraenm Syrus (Lond. 1853); Trench, Sacred Latin Poetry (ibid. 1849); Mrs. Barrett Browning, The Greek Christian Poets (ibid. 1863). (See HYMNOLOGY).
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McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Psalmody, Ancient.'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/p/psalmody-ancient.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
